Seal Silly Season: What You Need to Know as Seal Population Bounces Back

Seal silly season: What you need to know as seal population bounces back

Here's what you need to know as the countries seal population grows and fur pups turn up in all sorts of odd places.

Signs of hope as elephant seals rebound from avian flu in remote Chilean fjord

Year after year, a colony of elephant seals arrives in Jackson Bay, on the islands of Tierra del Fuego at the southern tip of Chile, to molt and breed. However, in 2023, an outbreak of avian flu devastated the region, and the colony’s population dropped by half. In 2020, when avian flu caused devastating losses in seabird colonies in Europe and Southern Africa, experts initially thought the virus’s spread to mammals would be limited to terrestri…

Racing to Save California’s Elephant Seals From Bird Flu

In late 2023, bird flu arrived on the rocky shores of the Valdés Peninsula in Argentina, ripping through the local colony of southern elephant seals. More than 17,000 seal pups died. It could take decades for the population to recover,…

Racing to Save California’s Elephant Seals From Bird Flu - Overpasses For America

During the breeding season, the center sees a lot of underweight, malnourished elephant seal pups, many of which are still too young to fend for themselves or even swim. Sometimes, they also see elephant seals with parasites or traumatic injuries, such as dog bites or blunt force trauma from boat propellers. For the last few years, the Marine Mammal Center has been testing any patients with bird-flu-like symptoms, which include respiratory and n…